Funding shortages and administrative burdens continue to be barriers for substance use disorder providers, advocates told lawmakers Thursday.
Jud DeLoss, CEO of the Illinois Association for Behavioral Health, said the current state budget included a $45 million reduction related to substance use prevention and recovery. He said officials “did not take into consideration current utilization, anticipated utilization and now … the actual utilization of those funds.”
“We have several members that are looking at running completely out of funding to provide services,” he told members of the House Mental Health and Addiction Committee and the Senate Behavioral and Mental Health Committee during a joint meeting.
DeLoss also expressed concerns about reimbursement rates and the allocation of funds from the state’s tax on cannabis sales and opioid settlement initiative.
Too often, he said, funds are being used on additional or new programs while existing services “wither and die.”
“We have concerns that certain programs that have been submitted for consideration by providers … have not received the consideration that they are due, and we believe that there has been a focus more on different programs, rather than supporting existing services, treatment, recovery and harm reduction,” DeLoss said.
Adriana Trino-Pujals, the executive director of the Latino Treatment Center, said many of their clients are not eligible for Medicaid or other coverage. That leaves much of the financial burden on public funding.
“Yet funding levels are insufficient to cover the actual cost of treatment, leaving us in a position where we are unable to expand programs or open new ones to meet the increased demand,” she said.
Others raised concerns about the administrative burdens placed on providers in the field.
David Gomel, president of Rosecrance, said many of their patients require mental health and substance use disorder treatment. That means they have to work through overlapping and often redundant regulatory requirements and clinical documentation.
“All this is just time spent away from our clients that our staff need to be touching and helping,” Gomel said. “The state as a whole should appoint sufficient resources to this work and be willing to eliminate historical practices, spend money to upgrade technology and make updates to reflect the services of the day.”
Jeffrey Collord, vice president of operations at Haymarket Center, said the state needs to upgrade its information technology services so providers can more easily supply the required data.
And though national data suggest that overdoses may have trended downward last year, Collord told lawmakers that “we are still in a crisis.”
He made several policy recommendations, including making it easier for prevention and recovery super providers to bill for medication administration, medication monitoring and medication training. He also suggested the creation of a safety-net designation for medically monitored detox programs, which could direct payments to those meeting established criteria.
Kristine Herman, chief of the Department of Healthcare and Family Services’ Bureau of Behavioral Health, said they are committed to identifying and alleviating financial and administrative barriers experienced by providers. They are working with providers and managed care organizations to streamline administrative requirements in behavioral health.
Herman said work done in recent years includes the recent launch of a Medicaid demonstration program for facilities that provide comprehensive, around-the-clock behavioral healthcare and substance abuse treatment.
Nineteen mental health and substance use treatment providers are part of the initial Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics program, which means they must provide care coordination, 24/7 access to crisis services and serve all patients, regardless of their ability to pay.
Along with providing enhanced funding opportunities, the program allows them to develop streamlined operational procedures for integrated care, Herman said.
Rep. Lindsey LaPointe, D-Chicago, said she was “cautiously optimistic” about the effort, but was concerned about the requirements it takes for other clinics that want to join.
“Lots of providers who aren’t those 19 are going to continue to struggle, but I know that we will all be partners in implementing the model to make sure people in every corner of Illinois can access it,” LaPointe said.